


Sleepless Nights

by Lexebug



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-26 13:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12059667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexebug/pseuds/Lexebug





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [faboomaster666](https://archiveofourown.org/users/faboomaster666/gifts).



Lance pulled his hair up into a towel, twisted it and rested it on the top of his head. Bending forward over the mirror, he opened the jar of strange alien face cream Coran had given him and started massaging it into his face; despite it being made for Alteans, it made his face smoother than anything that he had tried on Earth. As he rinsed his face off, he thought he heard something from outside. Poking his head out, he looked up and down the hallway, jumping back when he saw a shadow in the end of the hallway.

"Lance?" Lance relaxed; just Keith. Actually, it was like 2 AM, why was Keith up and about?

"Yeah, it's me. Why are you up so late?" Lance stepped out into the hallway, the light from the bathroom shining into the hallway and illuminating Keith's worried expression. 

"I heard something in the hallway, and got up to check it out. Did you hear anything?" He was obviously nervous; Lance flipped off the light in the bathroom and walked over to him, giving his hair a gentle ruffle.

"You probably just heard me walking around. Sometimes late-night skin care is necessary, y'know? C'mon, I'll get you back to your room." Keith nodded, smiling gratefully at Lance. They laced their fingers together, something Keith never let Lance do during the day and around the others, and started down the hallway. It was silent except for their breathing and footsteps; somewhere behind them Hunk was snoring loudly. Suddenly, Keith froze, swiveling his head around to stare at the door to Shiro's room. Lance squeezed Keith's hand reassuringly as he pulled them towards Shiro's door. Now Lance could hear something from behind the door. Sheets were rustling loudly, like something was tangled in them and trying to get out. Was that...crying?

"Shiro?" Lance called softly, and he heard the rustling stop abruptly, followed by heavy breathing. Yeah, that was crying. "Shiro, are you okay in there?" When there wasn't any response for a few seconds, Keith pulled his hand free roughly and knocked, loud. 

"Shiro, it's Keith. I'm coming in, okay?" And with that very little warning, Keith opened the door and stepped in, now dragging Lance in by the wrist despite his weak protests. In the light of the Altean clock beside Shiro's bed, the two could see Shiro sitting up in bed, chest heaving. There were tear tracks down his face, and his cheek was printed with blanket lines.

"Why are you two awake?" Shiro whispered, curling away from them. Keith stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on Shiro's shoulder. Lance, reluctantly, stepped after him, standing awkwardly and waiting for something helpful to do. 

"Couldn't sleep, and heard something weird from in here. What happened?" Keith sat down on the edge of the bed, hand moving to Shiro's, and Lance sat next to him, still not sure what he was supposed to be doing. He obviously had nothing on Keith and Shiro's connection, but he still wanted to _help_.

Shiro shook his head, like he was clearing the bad thoughts from it. "Just... a bad dream. Nothing serious. You guys should get back to bed." Lance scooted closer, taking Shiro's other hand in his own.

"Hey, if you're waking up in a cold sweat over it, it's not 'nothing serious'. How can we help?" Shiro scrubbed at one eye with one hand, sighing. 

"It's...is it okay if I talk about it? To let myself know it's not real?" Keith nodded, and Lance pulled his legs all the way onto the bed. 

"I was back with the Galra, in the fighting ring," Shiro started out, still whispering. Keith squeezed his hand.

"They were all chanting for me, telling me to fight... they wanted to see blood. Human blood, because it was... it was special or something, I don't know." Lance smoothed his hand down Shiro's shoulder, waiting for him to take a breath and continue.

"I didn't know what I was expecting. Lotor, maybe. I just hoped I could live." His voice broke, and Keith leaned his head into Shiro's chest, murmuring comforting things to him. After a pause, Shiro gathered himself and continued.

"I... I thought it was Matt out there, and I felt awful. I didn't want to fight Matt. He was bleeding from the leg, and he looked scared out of his mind. And he, he started to change. It was Pidge out there, and she looked _angry_. She was wearing the same clothes Matt had been wearing, but she was holding her bayard, and she stepped toward me and I knew I had to fight her, but I _couldn't_ , I couldn't make myself fight Pidge!" Shiro's chest was shuddering, and Lance pulled him down until he was laying on the bed a bit more, crawling over to his other side. 

"She came up, and she tried to attack me, but I kept dodging. But she just kept getting angrier and angrier, and at some point she started crying out of frustration. The crowds were screaming for blood, and I don't think it mattered to them who won or lost. I-I had to choose between me and Pidge, and-" Keith reached up, swiping a tear off of Shiro's face with the pad of his thumb. Lance pressed a kiss to his other cheek.

"I woke up right as her katar hit my chest. Right where that scar from my capture is." Shiro was crying fully now, chest heaving with sobs, and Keith grabbed a box of tissues from the bedside table, gently wiping his face. Lance pulled him closer until they were all three laying down fully, whispering quiet comforts into his ear, their legs twined together. Slowly, Shiro's breathing slowed, his heart a steady beat under Keith's cheek. At some point, Lance started singing a lullaby, his head nestled into the crook of Shiro's neck. Keith pulled the blanket over all three of them, and flipped onto his side, his head on Shiro's chest. They fell asleep like that, peaceful and quiet.


	2. Chapter 2

Keith sat straight up in bed, gasping for air. It took a minute to remember where he was, to look at the clock and see 4 AM, to remind himself he wasn't dying. Staring at the ceiling with the pillow clutched in his hands, he waited for his breathing to slow down and his legs to stop shaking. When he'd been laying there for five minutes and nothing had changed, he realized something was probably wrong. But what? His body was fine, he was fine, but his entire body was trembling. It practically felt like his skull itself was shaking. It was only now that he realized that he was crying, and tears were dripping into his mouth, salty and awful and dragging him back to his dream, to the ocean. There was nothing more he wanted than to be rid of that damn dream. He clambered out of the sheets, wiping his face roughly with his palms. Breathing deeply, he grabbed his bayard from its place in his closet and headed down to the only kind of therapy he knew; the training deck.

"Start training sequence," he announced, trying not to let his voice quiver. The single gladiator rushed at him, and he fought it off easily, stabbing and twisting his sword through the bot's chest. His nerves were already starting to settle at the familiar sound of crunching metal. The next level began, and Keith could feel himself loosen up, his muscles relaxing, his body starting to move correctly again. He plowed through level after level, until the floor was littered with stray wires and machinery. Level fifteen had a bigger group of foes, but Keith started out like always, confident and not caring for how much energy he was using. But, it felt like something was wrong. The noises the gladiators made was too smooth and seamless, rushing forward and pulling back all at once, like one single machine, like the tides-

There he was, back at the seashore. Not even in a swimsuit, for God's sake. He stepped in, his feet bare, and felt the water tugging at him, pulling him deeper, making him scramble forward first on his feet, then on all fours. Finally, it attacked, sucking Keith in like a vacuum and dumping him underwater. He could hardly see for all of the bubbles around him, and as soon as he had fought his way to the surface, coughing and sputtering, the water dragged him back under. His lungs were on fire, and he was going to have to inhale water, but he couldn't die, not like this. They needed to form Voltron. So he fought the water, pushed off the seafloor and saw the light of the sun shining so, so far away. There was almost no light down here, and not another living thing besides Keith. He tried, so hard, to push his way back up, but it was too much, the water like a lead weight pressing onto him, keeping him down. So he submitted. Curling into a ball, he let the water carry him down, down, into the depths, and wiated for the end.

Before, this was when Keith had woken up. Now, it was when frantic footsteps pounded into the room and a voice yelled "End training sequence!". The noise stopped abruptly, and Keith came back to himself, pulled out of his memory. He was curled up on the floor, tears making their way down his face. Wow, everything was shaking. That was new. "Keith! Keith, are you hurt? Are you okay? What happened?" Lance's face appeared, creased with worry, a hand reaching out for him. Keith jerked away, sniffling pitifully. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what got into me." The words were normal, ordinary, but Keith's voice was choked with tears and shaking like a leaf in the wind. Actually, the rest of Keith was shaking too, as opposed to the entire room spontaneously vibrating. It felt like his molecules were separating. He sat up, shoulders still hunched, hoping Lance didn't see his tears.

"Keith, you're obviously not okay." Lance scooted over, reaching out a hand, asking for permission. Keith shifted his own hand out, grabbing Lance's and holding it tight. "What happened?" Keith shook his head, and Lance seemed to understand. He pulled Keith closer, tracing shapes on his shoulders, spelling things out. Keith snorted at one sentence, and he could practically feel Lance light up beside him. "I'm here for you. I've got you." He murmured into Keith's ear, pulling him closer and rocking the two of them together in a slow, calming rhythm. Keith looked up an unknown amount of time later when quiet footsteps entered the room, and Shiro smiled. Lance's breath was warm against Keith's neck, and he felt so, so tired. Maybe what was why he didn't object when Lance helped him up, or when Shiro carried him in his arms to his bed, like you'd carry a bride across the threshold. And when the three of them settled into Shiro's bed, Keith sandwiched between them, Siro's hand on his arm and Lance's on his leg, he could have sworn he'd never felt so peaceful.


	3. Chapter 3

Lance woke up with a start and a phantom pain in his chest. He fought to steady his heartbeat, eventually just pulling his shirt off. Too hot in this room, too stifling of fabric, too much at once. Not to mention, the room looked different than he remembered. Instead of a confusing Altean clock on the nightstand, it was his old Nickelodeon one from back home. He could hear footsteps outside his door, but they were the running, light footsteps of children. His little brother's voice filtered through the door, asking if he ate all the Frosted Flakes again. It was angry and adorable and Lance felt his heart swell, and also he couldn't really remember if he'd eaten the last of the Frosted Flakes. He threw open the door, ready to see his family's smiling faces in what felt like forever-  
And he wasn't at home anymore. As quickly as it appeared, his home was gone, replaced by the Castle. It was touched down on an unfamilar terrain, covered in rocks and caves, deep gouges in the surface that looked like scars. His teammates were screaming, the lions swooping above their heads shooting at the hordes of Galra ships. The lions, however, were apparently acting of their own accord, because his team was in various states of injury on the ground.  
Pidge was the one he saw first, her face streaked with tears, blood leaking from under her chestplate. Hunk was next; he was laying on the ground with blood all over one leg, still trying to fire at the advancing enemy soldiers. Keith was hanging from the edge of one of the canyons, his fingers slipping. Shiro had fallen into one and was laying there, motionless. Lance choked back a scream, and watched as unknown Galra in armor stormed over his teammates, hordes of them, and when they passed, there was nothing but dust, rising in the breeze. Lance heard someone yelling for him through the ringing in his ears. He turned and-  
He wasn't on that alien planet anymore. He was up in his favorite tree back home, the tall sycamore with curved, sturdy branches perfect for gripping and climbing. He pulled off on of the leaves and smiled, finally back in somewhere familiar. He heard a laugh beneath him, and he smiled down at Keith, who was laughing under the tree. "Come on up!" he yelled down, pointing out which branches Keith needed to use to climb up. He did, pausing to kiss Lance sweetly when he reached him. Lance had been hoping for some more kissing (tree makeouts, anyone?), but Keith kept climbing. "Hey, you're getting pretty high up; do you know how to get down?" Keith smiled down at him, eyes sparkling.  
"Why would I ever want to get down?" And Lance heard, behind his voice, the sound of a branch snapping. Keith was falling, and Lance screamed for him, and tried his best to get to the ground before him, to break his fall,

And suddenly Lance was awake, for real this time, alone in his room. He pulled the blankets up to his chest, breathing deeply. Trying to calm down. "It's okay," he whispered to himself as he let tears drip down his face. "It's okay. Keith is okay. Pidge is okay. Hunk and Shiro are okay. They're all safe. You're safe." There was a soft knock at his door, and Lance felt himself jump. "Hello?" he called, and the door opened, followed by Shiro's face.  
Lance felt tears of relief choking him, because even though he'd told himself they were all safe, it was nothing compared to seeing it for himself. Shiro stepped in, and Lance saw Keith behind him, and practically sobbed as he threw himself into Shiro's arms.  
"Hey, what happened? Is everything okay?" Keith's hand was on Lance's upper arm, shaking him fully into reality. Lance leaned over and buried his head in Keith's shoulder.  
"Now it is."  
The three reconvened in the kitchen, with cups of the hot cocoa Hunk had found at the Earth store in the mall. Lance described his dream, and Keith asked for more stories about his home, his family. Lance happily complied, telling stories late into the night as slowly the three managed to fall into a more comfortable position.  
"This tree, it was so wonderful. A huge sycamore, but it had low branches, so I'd been climbing it since... age 5, I think?" Lance talked on and on, and eventually in the night, he found himself sandwiched between Shiro and Keith on the couch while X-Files played. Keith's fingers were laced with his and Shiro's were carding through his hair. Lance paused, smiling at both of them.  
"Thank you guys."  
Pidge found all three of them cuddled up on the couch, Lance spread out across Keith and Shiro's laps, and decided to steal Keith's phone and make it his background. Nobody except Pidge knew the reason for Keith's small smile when he next opened his phone. It was the best sleep Lance had ever had.


End file.
